Until recently, it was common for mentally or physically incapacitated persons to be incarcerated in institutions, or otherwise separated from society, and subjected to treatment which would be considered inhumane by contemporary standards. Eventually, however, it was learned that many handicapped persons could make worthwhile contributions to society if given the mere opportunity to be educated and trained. With increasing frequency, laws have been enacted and funds appropriated expressly for these purposes.
Such education and training invariably requires the use of a desk or table. However, desks designed and constructed for use by non-handicapped persons, and especially desks having adjustable desk tops, usually fail to meet the physical needs to a handicapped person and therefore impair or prevent his or her educational progress. For example, both mentally and physically disabled persons commonly have only the weakened and limited use of their extremities and are often confined in a wheel chair or other supportive seating device. Furthermore, handicapped persons may have the use of only one hand or arm (which is usually capable of exerting only minimal physical force) and may have little or no manual dexterity. As a result, it is typically impossible for such persons to adjust or otherwise utilize a desk designed for persons blessed with full mental and physical capacity. In addition, such desks are usually insufficiently dimensioned so that they do not accomodate a wheel chair or other seating device commonly used by handicapped persons.
Prior art desks specially designed for handicapped persons have also failed to meet the physical needs of the disabled. Typically, desks of the prior art have been adapted to be mounted on wheel chairs as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,450 to Sedgwich and No. 3,142,511 to Rehel. The mere mounting of such prior desks, however, precludes their independent use by most handicapped persons. Furthermore, adjustments to the height or angle of such prior desks require either two hands or substantial manual strength or dexterity, preventing the unassisted use of such prior desks by handicapped persons.
By failing to meet the physical needs of handicapped and disabled persons, prior desks have also failed to meet important mental and emotional needs. That is, as with non-handicapped persons, the accomplishments of a handicapped person are closely related to feelings of self worth and independence; in short, his ability to fend for himself. Thus, the use of these prior desks, by requiring the assistance of another person, may significantly impair a handicapped person's emotional progress and unnecessarily limit his potential contribution to society. At the same time, the accomplishments of the person required to assist a handicapped person in using such prior art desks are also severly limited.
Therefore, there remains a need for a desk which can be utilized by a handicapped person without the need for assistance by another person.